The present invention relates to an image display device in which an EL (electroluminescence) element, an organic EL element or another self-luminous element which is a self-luminous type display element is mounted.
Self-luminous elements, such as EL (electroluminescence) elements and organic EL elements, have such properties that the brightness is proportional to the current which flows through the self-luminous element, and thus, display with gradation is possible by controlling the current which flows through the self-luminous element. A display device can be fabricated by providing a number of such self-luminous elements.
Meanwhile, drive transistors for controlling the current which flows through the self-luminous element are inconsistent in terms of their properties, as a result of the manufacturing process, and this inconsistency in terms of the properties causes inconsistency in the drive current, and ultimately leads to inconsistency in the brightness, and thus is a factor in lowering the image quality.
As a circuit for solving this problem, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2003-5709) discloses a technology for display with gradation by writing a display data signal using the properties of the drive transistors as a reference during each horizontal period, and after that inputting a triangular wave for controlling the timing for illumination, and thus controlling the time for luminescence while cancelling inconsistency in the properties of the drive transistors.